Page 32 of Calling Quarters

This wasn't the bedroom I grew up in. That one had long since been converted into a craft room for my mother's hobbies. This was the room I took over when I stepped into my Quarter role and claimed my gifts. It was tradition for the current Quarter to move closer to their altar. I was just happy to be farther from my father.

If I ever decided to have a family, my parents would move into the guest house or one of the rooms on this side of the main house and I would take over their room. It seemed like an awkward exchange that I didn't see myself doing anytime soon.

So, for now, I settled here. My favorite part was the balcony I was currently standing on that overlooked the ocean. It was the only place I felt like I could catch my breath anymore.

That unmistakable sensation moved through me in waves. It was no longer a painful ache, just a buzzing that reached my core, letting me know that my counterpart was near.

She had to be here. Somewhere around my home. What would possess her to stumble into the most dangerous place this town had to offer her?

When I was just about to turn my back to the beach and go searching for her inside, I spotted the housekeeper's daughter, Julia, rounding the corner of a large boulder that sat on the edge of the sand and the woods with my weakness in tow. The rest of her friends trailed behind, their arms full of towels, coolers and a small keg.

Her family worked for mine for longer than anyone could remember. We always made sure to pay them a generous wage while providing more than suitable living arrangements, and they made sure to protect our privacy from the rest of the town. Both sides trusted each other to take care of the other, and over the years, they’d become closer to family than anything else.

Julia grated on my nerves, though. She was cocky and entitled and flat-out annoying. Her friends weren't any better. We were the same age, but they've always acted much younger. Never held responsible for anything in their lives. Never forced to work toward a single thing outside of who was paying for the next keg that night.

Julia was training to take over for her mom, and the rest of them worked in the various retail shops downtown, never taking advantage of the freedom they had to leave Beacon Grove and find a life in the outside world. They were Watchtower's most recent recruits, solidifying their futures here.

Storie looked out of place with the motley crew. In fact, she seemed downright miserable. I wondered how they managed to pry her away from the Granger girl and her obsessive digging into her family's business long enough to drag her down here.

It was none of my business. Being around her only confused and infuriated me, especially after she ran off the last time we were together, leaving me with a horde of unfamiliar emotions I had no idea how to deal with and the worst case of blue balls.

I could hear them laughing and joking once they settled into a spot, uncaring of how far their voices carried, or that technically, they weren't allowed to be out here. Julia knew the rules and never bothered with following them, but my father didn't care, so no one else did either.

It felt wrong to watch them any longer, though I could have kept my eyes on Storie for hours, studying her every move. Disgusted with myself, I turned and walked back into my room before a loud thud followed by a grunt sounded from below.

“What the hell did you do, Beau?” Julia hissed, her shrill voice floating straight through my balcony doors. I stepped back into the ocean air and saw Storie standing before me, translucent once again.

She wasn't looking at me. Her back was turned my way as she watched the beach in horror. The group of people she'd traveled with circled her physical body with their mouths open in panic.

“What happened?” I asked, startling her. The group was talking below us in hushed whispers, arguing about what to do.

“I-I don't know. They forced me out here with them. They were acting really weird, but I figured it was harmless. Then, that big one attacked me from behind, and now I'm here.” Her arm lifted over the balcony to point at the hulking man that was now bending over to grab her by the armpits and drag her to the side of the beach.

I can't replay a single thought that passed through my mind in the span of time it took for me to make it from my room on the third floor, all the way down to the beach. It was as if I blinked and was there, standing before the guilty group of six individuals who looked terrified to see me.

Storie's body wasn't anywhere to be seen, so there was obviously some amount of time that slipped away from me. But not much. Hopefully, not enough for them to do any damage.

“Where is she?” I heard my voice demand from somewhere far away. Perhaps my own spirit was still standing on the balcony with hers.

“Who?” Beau tried to ask, failing at acting casual. His voice shook and sweat was pouring down from his prematurely balding head in thick drops.

The others were stunned sober, their buzzes and good moods completely wiped away. They stood still behind Beau, as if his bulky body could protect them from any harm. And if they didn't tell me where Storie's body was, therewouldbe harm.

My eyes shifted behind Beau and found Julia's. I lifted my brow at her in a challenge, offering one last chance for her to come clean. She knew how dangerous the Wildes men were when they were tested. She'd witnessed some of my father's wrath firsthand but was always sworn to secrecy about the horrors that happened behind closed doors. I wouldn't doubt if she told her friends all about it, though. That would explain their terror.

A few beats passed and I was officially prepared to reach into each of their chests with my bare hands and rip their hearts out. When I stepped forward toward them, Julia's hand popped out from behind Beau's enormous arm and pointed to the west.

To the water.

I can't explain why the idea that something was wrong with Storie had affected me so much. Sure, she was likely my Counter, but that only meant I should have killed her myself. Before any of those braindead nonachievers ever had the chance. But it wasn't anger over the missed opportunity that had my feet propelling me through the sand.

No, there was that strange, nagging feeling deep inside my bones—embedded into the marrow—that pulled me into the opposite direction. It told me that killing her would be a mistake and fed this angry side of me that would rip them limb from limb if I found out they had harmed her beyond return.

“She's going to be okay. We didn't mean to hurt her. We were just having fun. It was an accident…” Julia was mumbling to my back. Her voice faded away into the sound of the waves as the dark sand kicked up behind me, tickling my legs.

They had dragged her body into the thick beach grass and propped her head onto one of their towels. It was rolled into a ball and soaked in blood that had also seeped into the golden locks fanned out around her face. Her pale skin was nearly translucent, leaving little difference between the version of her lying before me and the ghost-girl who met me on my balcony minutes before.

Raindrops sprinkled on my head when I kneeled beside her body, my hands hesitating just above it. I had no idea what the extent of her injury was or if moving her might only make it worse, especially after they had been so careless with her before. But I had to somehow pick her up and get inside before the downpour began and the tide lifted. After considering every possible outcome while the pace of the drops quickened against my skin, I just said fuck it and slid my arms beneath her neck and her knees, hoping the contact wouldn’t disrupt the cut on her head too much.

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